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The surname Keane

An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 11,459 people in the United States.

Pronounced /kiːn/ 1 syllable Soundex K500

Keane: #3,154 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Keane #3,154, 11,459 people Keane: #3,154 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Keane #3,154, 11,459 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Keane is more common than 98.1% of them.

Origin

Irish origin

Probably borrowed from Irish Ó Catháin (“descendant of Cathán”).

Keane is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 11,459 people named Keane in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 26,943 Americans. That is up 7.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 10,622.

#3,154
rank among US surnames
11,459
people in 2010
3.9
per 100,000 Americans
+7.9%
change since 2000 (was #3,121)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#3,145Blalock11,49326,864
#3,146Levesque11,49026,871
#3,147Forsythe11,48926,873
#3,148Newby11,48326,887
#3,149Lor11,47926,897
#3,150Sample11,47126,915
#3,151Barbee11,47026,918

Who is named Keane

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

93% of people named Keane identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.7% as two or more races.

  • White (not Hispanic) 93%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
  • Two or more races 1.7%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 1.6%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 1.3%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Keanes

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Margaret Keane
    American artist (1927–2022)
  • Glen Keane
    American writer and artist (born 1954)
  • John J. Keane
    American Catholic archbishop, 1839–1918
  • Edward Keane
    Actor (1884-1959)
  • John Keane
    Australian political theorist, born 1949
  • Donald Keane
    Australian racewalker (1930-2016)

Notable Keanes come mostly from the United States (4) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Keane

Keane has the Soundex code K500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K500.

Other Irish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Keane come from?
Probably borrowed from Irish Ó Catháin (“descendant of Cathán”).
How common is the surname Keane?
11,459 people in the United States had the surname Keane in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 26,943 Americans. It ranked 3,154th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Keane?
In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Keane identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Keane?
Margaret Keane, American artist (1927–2022), followed by Glen Keane.
Where is the surname Keane most common?
Wikidata records people named Keane in the United States and Australia.
How do you pronounce Keane?
Keane is /kiːn/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Keane?
Keane is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Keane getting more or less common?
More common. 10,622 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 11,459 in 2010, up 7.9%.
What are other spellings of Keane?
Kean, Keene, Keen and Kane.